Students’ perceptions of teachers’ writing instructional and motivational strategies

Abstract

The study investigated students’ perceptions of teachers writing instructional and motivational strategies in a pre-tertiary institution in Ghana. Using a mixed method approach, 60 third-year students drawn from three subject areas: General Arts, Science and Home Economics, were selected from a Senior High School within the Krowor Municipality of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Structured questionnaires consisting of four sections and a focus group discussion guide were used as the main data collection instruments. The data were subjected to a simple descriptive analysis for the quantitative part using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 and thematic analysis for the qualitative section. The findings indicated that teachers use eclectic strategies from the three major approaches to writing: product, process, and genre; however, strategies of the product approach dominated. Second, in teaching writing, teachers often casually employ a few motivational strategies that are often devoid of the needed intentionality and consciousness that could cause a change in learner behaviour. Again, the study found that students perceive their teachers’ writing instructional and motivational strategies as boring, less challenging, and less innovative.  The participants, however, perceive teachers’ use of model texts and field specific words in teaching writing as a good practice. Finally, it is recommended that writing instructions in senior high schools should consider learners from varied backgrounds with different capabilities and teachers should adapt strategies that suit the local contexts and address the individual learner’s needs.